29th Sunday After Pentecost Feast of the Maternity of the Holy Anna

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
The Second Sunday Before the Nativity; 29th Sunday of the Forefathers
December 15, 2024

Sat   12/14/24 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Anna Hoszwa by keno and Rick Reeder
Sun   12/15/24 9:30am Divine Liturgy Sunday of the Forefathers John Donnely by Cindy Hills
Wed   12/18/24 7:00pm Liturgy for Healing
Fri   12/20/24 7:00pm Immanuel Moleben
Sat   12/21/24 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Susan Herman by Jeanne Sheffer
Sun   12/22/24 9:30am Divine Liturgy Sunday Before Nativity +Fr. Dennis Bogda (5 Yr. Anniv. Of Passing) by Stavish Family

Christmas Confessions: Mon - Wed: from 5pm - 7pm

Variable Parts   Tone 5 - Pages 146— 147     Sunday of the Forefathers Pages - 281 - 283
Epistle    Colossians 3:4-11
Gospel     Luke 14:16-24

Memorial Candle Request - in memory of + Andrew and Pearl Baysura by Linda Mueler

Epistle Readers  14-Dec Mary Troyan   15-Dec Kathy Moyta   21-Dec John Baycura/Mary Motko 22-Dec Shari Allen

Please Pray for: Liz Moyta, Fr. Michael Huszti, Fr. Laska, Susie Curcio, Robert Zera, Teresa Milkovich, Robert Saper, Anna Habil, Martha Sapar, Mike Dancisin, Karen Smaretsky Vavro, Diane Sotak, Anna Pocchiari, Larry Hamil, Beverly Jones, Marilyn Book, Maryann Russin Schyvers, Nick Russin, Ken Konchan

Attendance: 12/7 — 15; 12/8 - 85; Collection: 12/7 - 12/8 — $2,354.00

Gibsonia Schedule
Sun   12/15/24   11:30am
Divine Liturgy Sunday of the Forefathers
Thu   12/19/24   7:00pm Divine Liturgy
Sun   12/22/24 11:30am Sunday Before the Nativity

Community Meal Christmas Day dinner @ First Methodist Church fighting food insecurity. We will be accepting your donations of Christmas Cookies for this dinner each Saturday and Sunday through Sunday December 22". Thank you in advance for your kind and generous donations.
Christmas Day Dinner
Wednesday December 25, 2024 10:00AM TO NOON

TAKE OUT AND DELIVERY ONLY
FIRST CHURCH
200 EAST NORTH STREET. BUTLER. PA
CALL (724)287-0454 BETWEEN 8AM AND 9PM FOR RESERVATIONS

DELIVERY RESERVATION DEADLINE IS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2024
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED FOR DELIVERY
REGISTRATION FOR TAKE OUT PREFERRED BUT NOT REQUIRED

Save these Dates:
Help is needed on December 18th at 2:00pm
to decorate the church.
December 20th we will bake nut rolls starting at 9:00am and we will need evening help to relieve workers who have been working all day. Please stop by, even for an hour, to help.

Parish Theophany Supper: On Sunday, January 5th we will have a Vigil Liturgy for the Theophany followed by supper. Please bring a meatless side or desert. The GCU will donate fish. There will be NO morning coffee social on this day.

The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer - Tradition suggests that when St Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said: "Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 18:3). The saint was called "God-Bearer" (Theophoros), because he bore God in his heart and prayed unceasingly to Him. He also had this name because he was held in the arms of Christ, the incarnate Son of God. Saint Ignatius was a disciple of the Apostle John and became a Bishop of Antioch. St Ignatius was zealous and spared no effort to build up the church of Christ. To him is attributed the practice of antiphonal singing (by two choirs) during church services. He had seen a vision of the angels in heaven alternately singing praises to God, and divided his church choir to follow this example. In the time of persecution he was a source of strength to the souls of his flock, and was eager to suffer for Christ.

In the year 106 the emperor Trajan (98-117), after his victory over the Scythians, ordered everyone to give thanks to the pagan gods, and to put to death any Christians who refused to worship the idols. In the year 107, Trajan happened to

pass through Antioch. Here they told him that Bishop Ignatius openly confessed Christ, and taught people to scorn riches, to lead a virtuous life, and preserve their virginity. Saint Ignatius came voluntarily before the emperor, so as to avert persecution of the Christians in Antioch. St Ignatius rejected the persistent requests of the emperor Trajan to sacrifice to the idols. The emperor then decided to send him to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts. St Ignatius joyfully accepted the sentence imposed upon him. His readiness for martyrdom was attested to by eyewitnesses, who accompanied St Ignatius from Antioch to Rome. On the way to Rome, the ship sailed from Seleucia stopped at Smyrna, where Saint Ignatius met with his friend Bishop Polycarp. Clergy and believers from other cities and towns thronged to see St Ignatius. He exhorted everyone not to fear death and not to grieve for him. In his Epistle to the Roman Christians, he asked them to assist him with their prayers, and to pray that God would strengthen him in his impending martyrdom for Christ: "I seek Him Who died for us; I desire Him Who rose for our salvation... In me, desire has been nailed to the cross, and no flame of material longing is left. Only the living water speaks within me, saying, 'Hasten to the Father.'

On the way to Rome Saint Ignatius visited several churches, teaching and guiding the Christians there. He also wrote seven epistles: to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna. He also addressed a letter to Saint Polycarp. All these letters have survived to the present day. On December 20,they led St Ignatius into the arena, and he turned to the people: "Men of Rome, you know that lam sentenced to death, not because of any crime, but because of my love for God, by Whose love Jam embraced. I long to be with Him, and offer myself to him as a pure loaf made offine wheat ground fine by the teeth of wild beasts." After this the lions were released and tore him to pieces, leaving only his heart and a few bones. Tradition says that on his way to execution, St Ignatius unceasingly repeated the name of Jesus Christ. When they asked him why he was doing this, St Ignatius answered that this Name was written in his heart, and that he confessed with his lips Him Whom he always carried within. When the saint was devoured by the lions, his heart was not touched. When they cut open the heart, the pagans saw an inscription in gold letters: "Jesus Christ." After his execution Saint Ignatius appeared to many of the faithful in their sleep to comfort them, and some saw him at prayer for the city of Rome. Hearing of the saint's great courage, Trajan thought well of him and stopped the persecution against the Christians. The relics of St Ignatius were transferred to Antioch, and in 637 were returned to Rome and placed in the church of St Clemente.

Catholic News: The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case brought by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Superior in Wisconsin after the Wisconsin Supreme Court in March ruled the agency ineligible for a religious tax exemption because Catholic Charities' service to the poor and those in need was not "typical" religious activity. The Wisconsin Supreme Court had in March, however, ruled 4-3 that Catholic Charities' activities are not "typical" religious activities because Catholic Charities serves and employs non-Catholics, does not "attempt to imbue program participants with the Catholic faith," and that its services to the poor and those in need could also be provided by secular organizations.

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Sunday Before the Nativity - Sunday of the Ancestors

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28th Sunday After Pentecost